.... and more Florida!

 Back to real life with a vengeance around here... the normal state of affairs where I am too busy DOING things to stop and write about any of them.  This trip to Florida feels a bit like another lifetime at this point...  

Time to reminisce.  The rest of the trip, in brief (or at least as brief as possible when I took SOO many pictures of SOO many awesome things!):

Day 3:  Sleeping in, brunch out, then hitting the beach.

Pompano Beach Pier.

Donna, happy to be by the ocean.

After my days flying solo it felt good to have company.

Most importantly someone to day-drink with.

We found this perfect spot at the Flying Fish Cafe and had ourselve several rounds and some chips and guac, then managed to stagger our way on the sand where we lazed about for pretty much the rest of the day.

Relaxation overload.

Home to our (5 minutes away) Airbnb to spend plenty of time primping for our concert...

Then back out for another meal by the beach.  The Beachhouse was lovely, delicious food, friendly ambience, great view. 

Back to the beach for sunset because of course.

Indigo Girls concert #1, Pompano Beach Ampitheater.  

A good show, but marred by a terrible bouncer who would not let us stand up by the stage.  Tragic. 

We did not get the set list but we did get a picture. 

And we lurked by the tour bus, and bought lots of merch.  Then went back, grabbed beers, and sat on the beach for a few hours in the moonlight. Not a bad day.

Day 4.  This place is ridiculous with the nice weather.

Took a solo beach trip while Donna slept in...

... then we started our 2 hour pilgrimage north to concert #2, on the "Space Coast."

Stopped on the way for an airboat ride on Lake Washington and the St. John's river system.

Look!  An alligator!

Then- you guessed it- we went to the beach for a while.  This is Paradise Beach just north of Melbourne. 

It was interesting to note the differences in sand and water color, and water temperature, just 2 hours north of the Miami area.  Still very beautiful, but not so crazy-tropical.  Felt more "real" up there too.  Like people might actually live there or something, not just visit.

Indigo Girls concert #2, Knight Performing Arts Center in Melbourne.  Absolutely worth every minute of the drive.  It was one of the best concerts I have ever been to.  The venue was great, amazing acoustics. We noticed it right away when the opener, Nicole Collins, who we'd thought was "fine" the day before, struck us as "wow, she's great!"

She was very entertaining and did a bit both nights asking people to get up and slow dance to one of her songs.  In Pompano there were about 6 couples dancing.  In Melbourne, probably 60% of the audience got into it.  The enthusiasm continued all night, to the point that we (the assembled audience but Donna and I are pretending it was just to *us*) got a shout-out on the Indigo Girls FB page for our energy and singing.

We had pretty good seats, too.

And no one around us seemed to mind that we were singing our heads off the whole time.  There was like 16 part harmony happening all around us on Kid Fears.  It was freaking amazing. 

I love taking pictures of Amy smiling.  I like that they are having JUST as much fun as the audience.  Shared joy and shared music and just so much love in that room. 

Oh- and we got the set list!!

We spent the whole drive home singing harmony and didn't even mind getting home at 1:30am.

Day 5:

Pictured here, melancholy last-day coffee on the patio...  Sigh.

A morning beach trip, of course. 

Then we ventured to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, opting out of Miami Beach -on-spring-break insanity. I just loved this little town.

Had brunch at a perfect spot, again.  Amazing people-watching, right on the main strip by the beach entrance and pier.  We enjoyed all of it except for the truck emblazoned with Trump paraphenalia that cruised by twice.  Ugh.  And that is why I won't be moving to Florida...

Cutest beach ever!

We paid to go on the pier to take in the view...

... and got to get close and personal with pelicans!

These guys were amazing and fearless. 

Sun, turquoise waves, and close encounters with prehistoric- looking wildlife?  Can't beat it. 

Last stop of the trip: Vizcaya Mansion.  Right at the southern tip of the Miami area, it was HOT while we were there.  After our drive down we were suddenly so thirsty we had to go get overpriced Perrier from the gift shop (because if you're going to pay for bottled water, why not get the good stuff?)

It felt pretty appropriate to be wandering the grounds of the over-the-top estate with our fancy bottled water, though.

The whole place was full of so much whimsy.  I loved every bit of it. 

Every room in the mansion (all 20 bedrooms!! For one guy!!) was decorated in a different style and/or time period.  

Soaking up a few more minutes of wildlife and plant life and sunshine and palms and water and.... Florida!!   I spent a lot of my life kind of talking smack about this state as a vacation destination.  So cliche, right?  But I get it now.  Five stars, would vist again. 

I couldn't have asked for a better vacation.  Amazing weather, every place I visited was unique and beautiful and inspiring, great company, the opportunity to go where I wanted and do what I wanted and NOT clean or do dishes once....!  I am so lucky.  Gratitude to my amazing husband who kept the home fires burning while I ran away..

Headed home, both recharged and exhausted.  Leaving at 8pm seemed like a good choice at the time... until our flight was delayed... and we arrived in Cleveland 12:30am to 23 degree snowy weather... without coats....

But it was still totally worth it.